“To come to this country and receive this kind of love from people you don t even know, it’s amazing,” he tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story.

The Telenova star and father of two – to son Christopher, 6, and daughter Kailey, 2, with on-and-off girlfriend Elizabeth Gutiérrez – also opens up about his early lean years in Cuba before emigrating to the U.S. at 15.

“I try to give my kids everything I never had,” he says.

For the full story on William Levy, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday